Mayor Steve Bach

“It’s great that one politician is willing to step out there and say he’ll solve it, but it’s never been done by one person in the history of our city.”

– El Paso County engineer Andre’ Brackin, when asked about Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach taking the lead on solving stormwater problems.

Old and young men called. Women called. Some called twice. They all wanted to know more about the Cheyenne Mountain Shooting Complex, featured in Wednesday’s Gazette. The story ranked in the top two throughout the day in views by online readers.

The complex opens Jan. 23 with an invitation-only, mid-morning ribbon-cutting ceremony (or should it be a 21-gun salute?). Congressmen are invited along with the governor and local officials, including Maj. Gen. Joseph Anderson, Fort Carson’s commander. It’ll be open for public shooting about 1:30 that day, at no charge.

“People are welcome to come that afternoon and look the place over,” said Imad Karaki, El Paso County’s director of support services. “The complex will have a lot of conveniences.”

The county partnered with Fort Carson on the long-awaited project, which will feature seven shooting ranges, three for rifles and four for pistols. Targets and earplugs will be provided at check-in. Seated firing positions will be available at the rifle ranges.

Rates for civilians will be $10 a day, $90 for a 10-visit pass, and $210 for a 25-visit pass. It’s slightly less for retired military, Department of Defense civilians and active military. Children ages 6-12 will cost $4 a day.

Women will shoot free one Saturday a month, all will be free one day per quarter-year, and other discount days will be observed.

Read more about the shooting complex, located off Interstate 25′s exit 132 just outside Fort Carson Gate 20, at http://www.gazette.com/articles/county-149230-shooting-complex.html.

When President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, it declared that on Jan. 1, 1863, all slaves in the United States, including the rebellious states opposing the Union in the Civil War, ”shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”

The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free a single slave, but was a turning point in the war. Lincoln had been careful to portray the war as a battle to preserve the Union but it then became a battle for human freedom.

Jubilee Day ’13, presented by the Colorado Springs branch of the NAACP, will commemorate the 150th anniversary of the historic signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

All are welcome at noon Tuesday at Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, 3615 Vickers Drive. Rev. Cleveland A. Thompson, senior pastor of the church, is keynote speaker, with a reception to follow. Music will be provided by the EMBC Mass choir.

How many chickens do you own?

How about your neighbor?

Or do you get eggs at the grocery, like most folks?

Colorado Springs residents are allowed to keep 10 chickens on their property. That’s true in Fountain, too, but people with less than five acres in unincorporated parts of El Paso County can only have two chickens.

County officials haven’t addressed the chicken counting case in decades. County commissioners performed a juggling act with the topic at their Thursday meeting but won’t take action until next month.

“I’m pro chicken,” commissioner chairwoman Amy Lathen said, fighting to keep a straight face.

The county has gotten some complaints: a rooster was crowing in the Park Vista area, a neighbor’s chickens were staining the sidewalk with what chickens tend to leave behind, and some other fowl tales.

The county has chosen not to enforce the two-chicken limit for years, said Mark Gebhart, deputy director of the county’s development services department. They’ve looked the other way as long as the number of cluckers was 10 or less.

Commissioners didn’t discuss how many chickens to allow but will in January. They did agree that roosters shouldn’t be allowed on properties less than five acres.

“Commissioners want to make it formal,” Gebhart said. “They’ll get into what is common sense for this.”

 Did you ever consider working in politics? If so, a prime opportunity is available to start on the ground floor and learn the ins and outs while working in the office of a United States Senator.

Read more below…

Mark Udall’s Pikes Peak regional office in Colorado Springs is accepting internship applications from undergraduate students and recent graduates for his office in Colorado Springs for the fall and winter semesters.  The internship program offers students the opportunity for public service and to learn hands-on about constituent services and the legislative process.

Sen. Mark Udall

Interns will assist state staff as they help constituents resolve issues with federal agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs, meet with local partners, represent the senator at community-outreach events, and draft writing projects such as letters of support for grant applications and congressional inquiries to federal agencies.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis; interested students can apply at http://markudall.senate.gov/students.  Internships are available on either a full-time or part-time basis.  This is an unpaid position, although college credit may be arranged through your school.

If you have questions, please contact Melissa Peltier at 719-471-3993.

El Paso County commissioner Darryl Glenn will host a town hall meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday at Monument Town Hall.

Topics will include transportation, oil and gas, budget and finance and elections. A question-and-answer session will conclude the meeting, which Glenn conducts four times a year. Glenn said the town hall typically lasts about two-and-a-half hours.

“This gives people an opportunity to talk to their commissioner and get updates on a lot of issues,” Glenn said. “People in my district are very concerned about transportation.”

Glenn said county engineer André Brackin will provide an update on Doewood Drive.

“That’s been a very contentious issue,” Glenn said.

Glenn will also update citizens on the aftermath of the Waldo Canyon fire.

Those who weren’t shocked still seemed surprised by county commissioners unanimously granting a land use variance to Sheryl and Dana Glasgow on Thursday. After all, Sheryl Glasgow’s encounters with commissioners have not been positive, and often ended in lawsuits.

Land use decisions are rarely simple, but commissioner Peggy Littleton said this one could only turn out one way.

Peggy Littleton

“Based on the evidence presented to us, we made the only decision we could,” said Littleton, who represents Glasgow’s district. “The Planning Commission had approved the variance and I knew we didn’t have any reason legally not to approve this.”

Commission chairwoman Amy Lathen said the decision was still difficult, though she cited precedent for granting the variance.

The decision concluded a 15-year battle between the Glasgows and many of their neighbors.

“I feel like the weight of the world has been taken off my shoulders,” Sheryl Glasgow said.

The variance allows the Glasgows to have a contractor’s equipment yard for their landscape business, Turf Master Industries, Inc., on the site of their five-acre residence in Saddleback Estates, an unincorporated area of the county surrounded by Colorado Springs neighborhoods near the northwest intersection of Powers Boulevard and Barnes Road.

“How we make decisions on land use involves three criteria,” Lathen said. “One is protection of private property rights. Two is state statutes as they relate to land use and three is local land use development policy.”

Former commissioner Duncan Bremer, special counsel to El Paso County on this case, told commissioners near the end of Thursday’s four-hour hearing that evidence seemed to show the Glasgows’ property would be “compatible with the neighborhood.”

County attorney Amy Folsom had recused herself from the proceedings. The county sued the Glasgows in 2001 for running their landscaping and snow removal business from their residential property. District Court Judge David Gilbert ruled the business was not permitted in that zone. The state Court of Appeals agreed in 2005, and the Glasgows were allowed to keep only a wholesale nursery at the home.

Glasgow property

When the Glasgows didn’t comply, the county sued for contempt and won. Sheryl Glasgow was fined $10,500 and received a judicial scolding from District Judge David Prince, who said her “conduct was offensive to the authority and dignity of the court.”

Sheryl Glasgow said little at Thursday’s proceedings. Ten individuals spoke against granting the variance, while others argued for the Glasgows.

“There have been a lot of changes in that area the last several years,” said Sallie Clark. a commissioner for eight years. “We’ve been through some rocky road on this. It does meet our land use criteria.”

Glasgow said she expected to win the decision, but was surprised it was unanimous. She figured Clark and Dennis Hisey, a commissioner for eight years, would vote against her.

This wasn’t a precedent-setting decision, Lathen said, noting the county has other residences and businesses located together.

The Glasgows will consolidate their business. The nursery, which has 500 trees and 1,000 plants, Sheryl Glasgow said, has been at the residence while trucks, trailers, mowers, chemical sprayers, snowplows and other items for the landscaping and snow removal business have been at an office on Ford Street.

The El Paso County Planning Commission approved the variance with eight conditions and two notations attached. Commissioners insisted on the same compliance and Sheryl Glasgow gave “100 percent” assurance that she will.

Neighborhood opponents told commissioners she has a history of non-compliance and expect that to continue. Glasgow said Friday the requirements won’t be difficult to meet and vowed to comply.

Need advice how to handle almost anything connected with the Waldo Canyon Fire? Local attorneys have ready answers on Wednesday.

Read the following press release from the county:

The El Paso County Disaster Center (DRC) will host the El Paso County Bar Association for a special edition of the Association’s free Ask A Lawyer program Wednesday, July 11, from 5-7 p.m. This special session is for individuals who were impacted by the Waldo Canyon Fire.  Residents impacted by the Waldo Canyon Fire, who have not previously registered at the Disaster Recovery Center, are asked to call 444-8300 to let them know of your interest is speaking with a lawyer.

Lawyers from the El Paso County Bar Association (EPCBA) will be available to answer questions and assist victims with topics ranging from:

• Assistance with Insurance Claims
• Counseling on housing problems, including landlord-tenant issues
• Assistance with home repair contracts
• Assisting in consumer protection matters
• Counseling on mortgage foreclosure problems
• Replacement of important legal documents (including wills)
• Drafting of powers of attorney
• Estate administration and planning
• Guardianship and conservatorships

No appointment is necessary to attend this special session of Ask A Lawyer but impacted residents who have not previously visited the DRC are asked to call 444-8300 to register in advance. No other DRC services will be available at this time. The DRC is located at 105 N. Spruce in Colorado Springs.

The EPCBA will also being offering Ask a Lawyer services Saturday, July 14 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Citadel Mall and Call-A-Lawyer Thursday, July 19, from 5-7 p.m. on KKTV’s Call for Action.

The El Paso County Bar Association is the principal professional association for attorneys in the Pikes Peak Region for over 110 years.  For more information email Claire Anderson: Claire@elpasocountybar.org

The following is a press release from the El Paso Clerk & Recorder’s office. The Citizens Service Center is closed until further notice…

Due to the Waldo Canyon mandatory fire evacuations the El Paso County Clerk & Recorder’s Office at Citizens Services Center (1675 W. Garden of the Gods Rd) will be closed until further notice. All other branch offices will remain open to serve our citizens. Staff has been redeployed to our other offices.

The Election Department will be closed tomorrow but all other departments will be open and serving customers beginning at 8:00 a.m.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The Clerk & Recorder branch offices are as follows:

• North Office-Union and Research
• Southeast-Powers and Airport
• Downtown at Centennial Hall-Cascade and Vermijo
• Clerk to the Board will be functioning out of the Centennial Hall Auditorium

Following is a press release from El Paso County regarding the death of employee Howard Miller:

The El Paso County Board of Retirement notes with great sadness the death of Retirement Plan Administrator Howard Miller. Miller, age 44, succumbed to an apparent heart attack today. 

Howard Miller was hired as El Paso County Retirement Plan Administrator in 2009.  He was accredited as a certified financial planner at the University of Houston and had worked exclusively in public retirement plan funding for twenty-two years.  For six years prior to taking the position in El Paso County he had served as the Director of Employer Services for the 190,000 member Texas County and District Retirement System.  Miller was born at the Air Force Academy but moved away from the area as a child.  He is survived by his wife and son.  

 Bureau Chief Joe Breister of the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, who is currently serving as Chairman of the Retirement said, “It’s a great loss to the retirement plan and to the entire community.  Howard was hired at a time when we needed great leadership following financial collapse in 2008.  Everything he did was out of his dedication and commitment to the financial stability of the plan for the benefit of plan members.”

The El Paso County retirement plan covers approximately 3,680 employees, beneficiaries and retirees of El Paso County, El Paso County Public Health, Office of the 4-th Judicial District Attorney, El Paso County Board of Retirement, and the Pikes Peak Library District.